Remarkable Communities!

Sponsor Highlight

As an architectural & town planning firm, Studio Archaeos values conservation’s role in communities.

By Tim Busse, AIA, Co-Founding Principal of Studio Archaeos

Heartlands Conservancy is unique among organizations in our region by adopting a holistic approach to the related fields of farming, planning, and conservation of natural resources. Heartlands works with individuals and communities to improve the natural bonds between municipalities and their shared landscape resources that are often forgotten in the race for a quick profit.

Congratulations, Collinsville!

HeartLands Conservancy looks forward to continuing to work alongside the city of Collinsville as they pursue healthier watershed initiatives.

A large part of our work at Studio Archaeos is creating unique places that are designed to enhance many people’s lives and communities while working with the existing immediate and regional environment. Our work fosters and reinforces the distinct spirit of the place by highlighting the intrinsic qualities of the surrounding natural landscapes. To paraphrase and expand a quote from Winston Churchill, we shape our communities, and afterward, our communities shape us. We recognize Heartlands Conservancy shares similar values.

Heartlands Conservancy works to create value in local communities by collaborating with municipalities and private landholders to bring local & specialized knowledge, development standards and planning best practices into balance with the local environment for the good of all residents. Communities benefit through the preservation of unique resources, more pedestrian and cycling connections, and by fostering the creation of thoughtful and beautiful places. Among the greatest benefits are the preservation and restoration of natural landscapes that allow the heart, eye and lungs a chance to decompress, providing an alternative to the world of screens that dominate modern life.

As a not-for-profit entity, Heartlands Conservancy advocates for the best interests of the region, but what makes Heartlands Conservancy so valuable to us is that their work goes beyond advocacy into tangibly improving the lives of the people in the communities they work in.

By collaborating with others, Heartlands Conservancy advocates for all people and helps to create consensus. Local businesses thrive when their communities are open and equitable for every inhabitant. Truly the health of our selves our community and our planet are all interrelated.

This is the world that Heartlands Conservancy is building.

We at Studio Archaeos want to encourage everyone reading this to consider the contributions that Heartlands Conservancy brings to the Southern Illinois region and to get involved by donating their time and money to the certain betterment of our region.

We cannot think of a more worthy goal than to assist Heartlands Conservancy in their mission.

Congratulations, Wood River! Congratulations, Collinsville!

The City of Wood River recently received HeartLands Conservancy‘s Outstanding Community Partner award for its remarkable efforts and investment in improving infrastructure in their community.

They recently finished a bicycle and pedestrian master plan with HeartLands Conservancy and are working to update design guidelines for downtown businesses. The City is also undertaking a 15–20-million-dollar project to separate storm sewer from sanitary sewer. The City is also continuing to secure funds to continue their work separating the sewer system.

The City looks forward to many new downtown businesses in 2024 and hopes to continue reinvesting in resources downtown as they embark on implementing their new comprehensive plan.

HeartLands Conservancy is proud to continue to partner with the City of Wood River.

HeartLands Conservancy is proud to recognize the City of Collinsville for its exceptional efforts toward a healthier watershed, integrating green practices, and native habitat restoration into its work.

This past year, the City of Collinsville has diligently worked on improving Willoughby Farm by completing two projects to combat erosion - from redefining the slope of a heavily eroded hillside so that it is better equipped to handle rainfall to adding several riffles to the waterways through the farm to slow the rate of water flow. These progressive measures have been replicated at the City’s Woodland Park as well for the same purpose. The City is also undertaking many storm sewer providing capacity.

Along with their care for improving their watershed, the City has many smaller projects in the works, including adding native plants and rain gardens throughout the city and collaborating with HeartLands Conservancy on a citywide tree plan to update its tree ordinances.